The Dragon: End Times According to Jesus 16

[Music] [Music] [Music] good to see you all it's good to have those who are visiting online just let me give you a little bit of information about online we've had over 3 million viewers on youtube that means 3 million people have watched one of our services and we have over 25 000 subscribers and if you're online and you watch on a regular basis we want to encourage you to become a subscriber because the more subscribers we have the more at the top we are when people come in and type things in in fact we're number one if you type in revelation uh we don't always appear as number one because some people pay for that spot but because we have so many people looking at that it's amazing where we show up so thank you so much thanks for joining us well for the last month or so we've been going through the olivet discourse verse by verse and as most of you know the olivet discourse is what jesus taught concerning the end times in fact that's the name of the series the end times according to jesus now because we've been going through the olivet discourse verse by verse you should be familiar with the way that it's laid out especially in the gospel of matthew because we spent the bulk of our time in matthew's gospel and as i've pointed out many times matthew's account of the olivet discourse is recorded in chronological order for the most part in other words he has arranged the events so that they are laid out in chronological order in other words he took what jesus said about the end times and he kind of rearranged how jesus said it to make sure that all of the events lined up in chronological order and that's the reason we chose matthew's gospel as we were going through the olive discourse is because it's laid out in chronological order in fact it's laid out in chapter 24 like this verses one and two provide the historical setting if you remember in the previous chapters jesus had been rejected by the leaders of israel and they had influenced the people as a whole to reject jesus and as a result of that jesus said here's the consequences the kingdom is going to be taken from you and it's going to be given to the gentiles until the time the gentiles is fulfilled but not only that he said your house is going to be left desolate now when he said your house he was referring to the temple the house of god it's israel's house of god the temple so when he said your house will be left desolate to confuse the disciples so you come to matthew chapter 24 and verse number one and they look at the temple in the building and they point them out to jesus and in essence what they're saying is are you telling us that this is all going to be destroyed and in verse 2 jesus says completely destroyed not one stone is going to be left on top of another of course that raised a lot of questions for them and so verse 3 lists the three questions the disciples asked jesus i'm going to give you those three questions but i want you to understand that this is not the order in which they ask those questions but i'm giving it to in the order in which jesus answered their questions number one when will the end times begin and what will be the sign that the end has begun in other words how do we know that we're living in the end times why how will we know that what's the sign number two when will jerusalem and the temple be destroyed and what will be the sign that it's about to happen and last but not least number three when will you return and what will be the sign of your coming this is interesting because he's telling us or they're asking is there going to be a sign to let us know when you're coming and jesus is going to answer that now in verses 4 through 6 jesus provided some general characteristics of the church age which are not signs in other words these things have nothing to do with the end times they're just a natural byproduct of living in a sinful world and jesus didn't want his disciples to jump to their own conclusions when they saw these things happening and yet people do that today one of the non-signs is wars and rumors of wars from the time of jesus there have been wars and rumors of wars and today you'll ask people do you think we're living in times oh yes there's wars and rumors of wars well people that's a non-sign the many there'll be many messiahs or false christs there's been that you know jesus was the first one that officially came and said i am the jewish messiah after him there's been bukus yeah those are non-signs in verses 7 through 8 jesus gave us the sign of the end of the age in other words the sign that lets us know that we're living in the end times as christians we should know are we living in the end times or not because they said give us a sign so we'll know and jesus told us what that sign is the sign is a world war nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom followed by an increase in magnitude and frequency of earthquakes and famine that confirms the sign verses 9 through 28 is a is a list of events that will occur during the tribulation this section is broken into two parts verses 9 through 14 lists the events that will occur in the first half of the tribulation verses 15-28 lists the events that will occur in the second half of the tribulation verses 29 and 30 which we're going to be looking at this morning tell us when christ will return as well as the sign of his coming now listen to me the second coming is not imminent verse 29 tells us when jesus will return he doesn't tell us when the rapture will occur he just says it could happen at any moment the second coming is not that way certain things must transpire before the second coming occurs that's why the rapture and the second coming are two different events and if you can't get that i can't help you verse 31 is the regathering of israel the jews will be brought back to the promised land they will no longer be scattered all over the world that was part of the curse spoken upon the nation of israel go back to deuteronomy 28 these curses will follow you you get to the very end of the chapter and it's like okay this is it when you guys have broken so many times this is what's going to happen you're going to be scattered all over the world well let me tell you verse 31 tells us there's going to be regathering of israel verses 32-35 is the parable of the fig tree this lets us know that we're the final generation in other words if we live a long full life we will see all of these things take place unless we're raptured if we're raptured we'll miss the tribulation thank god we won't see asteroids hitting the planets and causing a polar axis shift we won't see the sun darkened and the moon not shining we're not going to see those things but we will live to see the rapture take place verse 36 through 42 is about the rapture now this is where matthew deviates from placing the events in chronological order but he clearly indicates that he's breaking the pattern so we know that when he starts talking about the rapture that well it's not at the end because he lets us know and you don't really get that unless you can translate it from the original greek i'll talk more about that when we get there now last week we began studying verses 29 and 30 which tells us when christ will return as well as the sign of the second coming but we didn't finish it we got about a halfway through verse number 29. so if you don't mind let me give you a quick recap of what we covered verse 29 sets the stage for jesus return in other words he wants us to know okay this is what it's going to be like right before jesus returns so he's setting the stage for jesus return because verse 29 tells us three important things number one when jesus will return i can tell you exactly when jesus will return once the tribulation starts because verse 29 tells us when jesus will return number two second important thing what's it going to be like on this earth right before jesus christ returns don't we want to know that yeah and number three what the sign is that signals he's returning what is the sign now let's read verses 29 and 30 and you'll see what i'm talking about but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then the sign of the sun of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory now i want you to notice that jesus said immediately after the tribulation of those days the phrase of those days refers to the 2520 days of the tribulation also known as the 70th week of daniel the first half of the tribulation will be exactly 1 260 days the second half of the tribulation will be exactly 1 260 days for a total of 2 520 days pastor how long will the tribulation lasts seven years prophetical years seven years of 360 days 2520 days divided into two periods the first half and the second half yeah so according to jesus according to jesus he will return immediately after the tribulation immediately after those 2520 days but what will it be like on the earth right before he returns well verse 29 tells us notice what it says but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken do you see that the sun will be darkened the moon won't give its light the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken now last week i explained why the sun would be darkened and the moon wouldn't shine i explained why the asteroids would fall from the sky hitting the earth and if you weren't here last week then you need to go back and watch last week's sermon because i don't have time to review that suffice to say it's the result of the sixth seal being opened in the book of revelation and the fifth bowl being poured out upon the earth so we've already covered the first three things that jesus mentioned but we didn't get to the last thing which was the powers of the heavens being shaken and that's what we're going to cover this morning at the end of the tribulation right before christ returns the sun will be darkened the moon won't shine asteroids asteroids will fall from the sky hitting the earth causing a polar axis shift and the powers of the heavens will be shaken but what does that mean the powers of the heavens will be shaken well that's what we're going to find out this morning who or what are the powers of the heavens and how will they be shaken so let's read verse number 29 again and i want you to underline the phrase the powers of the heavens it says this but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken now the word powers is one of the titles used to refer to supernatural forces or beings who try to exert their influence over the destiny and activities of human beings i didn't highlight that because i'm going to talk about that in a minute let me give you an example look with me if you would in ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. for we wrestle not against flesh and blood oh some people get out there and wrestle and some are even foolish enough to get out there and fight and if we wanted to get out here and wrestle someone come up here and wrestle me it'd be easy to take me but i want you to understand paul says this we don't wrestle against flesh and blood other humans but against principalities against powers there's that word against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places now principalities powers rulers of the darkness and spiritual weakness in the heavens are all titles for spiritual forces or beings who try to exert their influence over us some of you are more sensitive to spiritual things than others believe it or not i i'm not very sensitive to people but i'm very sensitive to spiritual things i've walked into certain places and i realize ooh there's something demonic going on here i don't know what it is years and years ago i came in and we had a person that was at our church that played in the band and i walked in and i i knew something was wrong it went on for several weeks so i said god what's the deal he told me said he's smoking pot so i confronted him after the service and he said yeah i have been i'm sorry i i want you to understand something the holy spirit's a gentleman he's not going to tell off on you until it gets to a point and then he tells you that judgment begins in the house of lord then things are revealed you know dirty laundry in the church eventually gets aired we've seen that with pastors falling right they hide it for a while but eventually it comes out that's because god loves us he gives us a chance to repent in private but when we don't but my point is i'm getting off i'm sensitive to those spiritual things but i want you to understand these spiritual beings are trying to exert influence over us and some of you are being oppressed and don't even know it so the powers of the heavens that jesus is referring to is satan and his demonic followers if you're taking notes write that down the powers of the heavens that jesus is referring to is satan and his demonic followers now in verse number 29 jesus tells us that the powers of the heavens will be shaken look at verse 29 again but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken in other words satan and his demonic forces will be shaken but what in the world does that mean well underline the word shaken and let's find out the word shaken is translated from the greek word saluo and it means to overthrow or to cast down from a previous position or state so what jesus is saying is that satan and his followers are going to be cast down from heaven let me say that again what jesus is saying is that satan and his followers are going to be cast down from heaven in fact during the tribulation there's going to be a war in heaven between michael and his angels and satan and his angels and satan is going to be defeated and cast down from heaven and this is what jesus is talking about now again jesus is describing in layman's terms the very same thing that john described in the book of revelation john goes into much more detail than jesus does but jesus is describing the very same thing jesus doesn't want to get off in little details he's just giving you a brief synopsis here's what's going to happen during the tribulation here's what's going to happen when jesus returns this is what's going to take place when i get here yeah john goes into a lot more detail but i want you to understand in the olivet discourse jesus is describing the very same thing that john is describing in much more detail in the book of revelation now turn to the book of revelation chapter 12 verses 7 and 8 and i'll show you what i'm talking about and there was a war in heaven michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not neither was their place found any more in heaven they had a place in heaven yeah now how many of you have been taught that satan was cast out of heaven and banished when he rebelled against god well actually that's not true but this is the scripture that pastors use to support that belief the only problem with that is this verse isn't talking about something that's already happened it's talking about something that's going to happen in the future yeah in fact it's going to happen in the middle of the tribulation right after the abomination of desolation takes place you see even though lucifer has fallen from his lofty position he still has access to the throne of god and let me prove it to you turn to job chapter 1 verses 6 and 7. one day the angels came to present themselves before the lord notice that the word lord is in all caps who is that yahweh by now you ought to know that if you're watching online you haven't been in our church for a long time whenever you see the word lord in all caps it's referring to yahweh so one day the angels came to present themselves before the lord and satan also came with them the lord said to satan where have you come from satan answered the lord from roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it now obviously the book of job happened after satan's rebellion which tells us that satan has access to god's throne yes he roams the earth like a lion seeking whom he may devour but he also has access to the throne of god access to heaven turn to job chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 and let's look at another example on another day not the same day the angels came to present themselves before the lord and satan also came with them to present himself before him and the lord said to satan where have you come from satan answered the lord from roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it so satan has the ability to roam this earth but he also has the ability to go up to heaven to come before the lord so it's pretty obvious from these two passage scripture that satan has access to god's throne he has access to heaven but what does he do there well if you read the first few chapters of job you'll find that satan was accusing job of serving god with the wrong motive he only serves you because you bless him that was his accusation and people that's what satan does when he comes before god he makes accusations against us that's why he's referred to as the accuser of the brethren he makes accusations about us or against us to god so even though satan lost his position when he rebelled against god he still has access to it excuse me yes i'm trying to keep it from this side for my cough so again even though satan has lost his position when he rebelled against god he still has access to heaven and so do some of his angels look at ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. we're still in ephesians chapter 6 where if you remember in the earlier verse he mentioned all these things and then in verse number 12 he says this for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms according to paul there are spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms but they won't be there forever there is coming a day when satan and his angels are going to be kicked out of heaven for good and he will no longer have access to god he'll no longer have access to heaven and people that's what revelation chapter 12 verses 7 and 8 is all about you see the demise of satan happens in three steps the first step is when he's banished from heaven you'll find that in revelation chapter 12 verses 7 through 8 the second step is when he's chained in the bottomless pit during the millennium that's in revelation chapter 20 verses one through three and the last and final step is when he's thrown into the lake of fire you'll find that in revelation chapter 20 verse number 10. so here's what i'm telling you at the midpoint of the tribulation when the two witnesses are murdered the antichrist makes his move he enters into the temple of god proclaiming himself to be god and he demands to be worshipped at that time satan makes his move and there is a great battle in heaven satan is not only defeated but he's banished from heaven it's over no more access to heaven no more accusations against the brethren instead satan is cast down to the earth for good now look at verse 9 in revelation chapter 12. we're still in revelation chapter 12. we're going to stay in there and we're going to read about this battle and the in the ramifications of it notice what it says and the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan which deceiveth the whole world he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him now the phrase cast out is used three times in this verse why why well the reason it's used three times is to emphasize the decisiveness of the battle satan and his angels were expelled from heaven permanently they were cast out once cast out to cast out i want you to know this is decisive he's no longer going to have access to heaven now to avoid any mistaken identity of who was cast out of heaven john identifies satan in five different ways in verse nine in this one verse he refers to lucifer in five different ways first of all he's referred to as the dragon which speaks of his wickedness and his cruelty you see dragons were thought of as being cold cruel animals the kill for sport think of crocodiles and you get the picture secondly he's referred to as that old serpent this is meant to remind us of adam and eve's fall in the garden of eden it was the serpent who tempted adam and eve to sin he's also called as it says in verse nine the devil and satan the word devil is translated from the greek compound word diablos it's made up of two words the prefix dia which means through and balo which means to throw when you combine those two words it literally means to continually throw at something until you break through how many have you ever said it's just one thing after another the refrigerator refrigerator broke down they sent us home from work so we might not get paid the car needs new tires and the kids are sick and you just want to give up why are things just constantly thrown at you because that's satan's method of attack that's why he's called the devil devil is not his name it's a descriptor it tells you his method of attacking you satan means adversary you see satan hates god and he wants to hurt god so the best way that he can hurt god is to hurt those whom god loves if god or satan can hurt you he hurts god there's no other way he can hurt him and that's why he wants to hurt you that's why he wants evil in this world this is why he wants bad things to happen because it hurts god he's satan he's the adversary and last but not least he's referred to as the one who deceives the world he's the master of deception with the uncanny ability to mislead people and once he misleads people he turns right around and accuses them this is wonderful i want you to get this picture it doesn't say it in the bible but when you read through the bible you know exactly what satan did he appears to adam and eve in the garden and he says did god really say that if you eat this you would die do you think you really die and i'm paraphrasing god knows that when you eat of it you will become like him knowing the difference between good and evil god just doesn't want you to be like him surely you won't die he looks at it she's tempted she takes a bite of it adam's watching the whole time doesn't stop her he finally says is it good and she says yeah he looked around and god didn't send lightning and he hit her so he took a bite now immediately what do you think happened well i can tell you what happened even though it's not recording the book of genesis same immediately goes to god says god do you see what they did you specifically told them not to eat of that and they did you said they'll die now they didn't physically die the day they ate of it they spiritually died which led to physical death death simply means separation from god you're separated by your sin until you accept jesus christ you're separated from god even though he loves you once you accept jesus christ your sins are forgiven you're reconciled to god and no one were separated that's why even though you might physically die you still live that's good teaching pastor allen but i want you to understand something satan is trying to get you to flirt if you're married he's trying to get you to look at porn he's trying to get you to party he's trying to get you to do all these things and as soon as you do he turns right around and goes look at them god yeah yeah he misleads you and then he turns right around and accuses you yep now look at verses 10 11 in revelation chapter 12. and i heard a loud voice saying in heaven now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his messiah christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our god day and night how could he use them before god unless he has access to heaven day and night and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb the way that we overcame being accused because now those accusations yeah well i just want you to know those sins are paid for they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony jesus is lord that's what he means word of their testimony and they led not their lives unto death now once satan is cast down from heaven heaven celebrates this victory is just one more step towards the establishment of god's kingdom here upon the earth but things are really going to get tough for those on the earth especially for the jews and those who accept christ after the rapture look at verse 12 therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knows now that he has but a short time now i want you to underline that word therefore therefore is translated from the greek greek phrase diatato which means because of this because of this rejoice heaven and you that dwell in heaven now what's he talking about because of this because of what because satan has been kicked out of heaven permanently because of this rejoice heaven and those that dwell in heaven but woe to the inhabiters of the earth in other words it's a good thing for those in heaven but it's a bad thing for those on the earth why because satan's really ticked off now now that he's been kicked out of heaven and he knows he only has a short time how short three and a half years yeah how do you know that well let's keep reading look at verses 13 and 14. and when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth no longer has access to heaven he persecuted the woman israel which brought forth the man child jesus jesus was a jew he's the jewish messiah it was the chosen people that brought forth the messiah they rejected him but they're the ones who brought him forth they'll repent at the end of the tribulation recognize that he's the messiah they're still his chosen people but i can just keep reading verse 4 verse 14. and to the woman we're given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent so in retaliation for being cast out of heaven satan's going to try and hurt those that are most dear to god and who is that the jews god's chosen people because they're the ones who are responsible for bringing forth the messiah yeah you know i don't know why christians boy that all the time i want to look at the jews and paul tells us in the book of romans don't exalt yourself you need to understand they're the root we were just grafted in yeah anyways i'm getting off but i want you to understand satan hates them above everyone else so now satan is going to persecute the woman with the new vengeance the only problem is the jews are going to flee into the wilderness when they see the abomination of desolation take place so they're going to be one step ahead of satan look at verse 14. into the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished in other words protected for a time in times and half a time from the face of the serpent now some scholars believe that the eagle with two wings is symbolic and it's talking about airplanes but i don't believe that let me tell you why this is the same terminology that's used in the old testament when israel was delivered from egypt look at exodus chapter 19 verse number four remember exodus means deliverance you're exiting you're coming out so here's what it says you yourselves have seen what i did to egypt and how i carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself so god is talking about okay when i brought you out of egypt you saw what i did to egypt and how i carried you on eagle's wings now look at deuteronomy chapter 32 verses 9 through 12. for the lord's portion is his people jacob is the lot of his inheritance he found him in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness he led him about he instructed him he kept him as the apple of his eye as an eagle stirth up her nest earth over her young spirit that brought her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the lord alone did lead him and there was no strange god with him so this is basically a figure of speech that means god will deliver them and because petra is only 45 miles south of the dead sea they'll be able to get there quickly and they don't need an airplane in fact it'd take longer to get in the airplane take off fly there and land than it would be just to flee remember jesus told those in judea to flee not those in other nations look at matthew chapter 24 verses 15-16 this is part of the olivet discourse he didn't tell every judith lee he said the jews in judea and jerusalem notice what it says when you therefore see the abomination of desolation spoken of by daniel the prophet stand in the holy place then let them which be in judea flee into the mountains now how long will israel have to remain in the wilderness well look at verse 14 again into the woman we're given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent a time which is one and times which is two this is not plural this is a dual a dual means more than one but not more than two so what does it mean two and half a time which equals three and a half years so when the abomination of desolation occurs at the midpoint of the tribulation those in judea flee to petra and they remain in the wilderness for three and a half years which is exactly how long the last half of the tribulation is this is further proof that satan is not kicked out of heaven until the middle of the tribulation in fact just go back and read chapter 12 in revelation in context and you see what i'm talking about you'll see that when satan gets kicked out of heaven he turns his great wrath on the woman which is israel but israel flees to the wilderness and is protected by god for three and a half years that tells us that the battle in verses seven and eight where satan gets kicked out of heaven doesn't happen until the middle of the tribulation but as i said israel is one step ahead of satan and the reason they're one step ahead of satan is because when they see the abomination of desolation take place they flee to the wilderness immediately i'm not going to read it but you can go back in matthew chapter 24 verses 15 through 18. remember this is the events that's going to occur at the beginning or during second half tribute at the very beginning of that's the abomination of desolation and jesus tells them when you see it you flee but he also says this pray that it does not occur on the sabbath why because the orthodox jews cannot travel on the sabbath at least not for any long distance because that would be considered to be work that's why the whole travel industry public transportation is shut down on the sabbath in israel so those are the conditions on the earth at the end of the tribulation right before christ returns the sun is darkened the moon doesn't shine asteroids have fallen from the sky hitting the earth calling upo causing a polar axis shift and satan has been pouring out his wrath upon the jews and christians because he's been cast out of heaven and at this point it looks like all is lost and there's no hope for mankind and not even for our planet and it's at this moment that the sign of jesus coming appears in the sky look back at verse number 30 in matthew chapter 24 this is part of the olivet discourse and then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory now there are two things that i want you to notice in verse 30 first the sign will appear in the sky not on the earth in the sky and secondly they will see the son of man in the sky coming with power and great glory truth is found in the details people not just glory but great glory they will see the son of man coming in the clouds in great glory paulus doxa which refers to the shekinah glory of god now does everyone know what the word shekinah means how many have heard of the word shekinah none of you never heard of shekinah glory oh my gosh well anyways i'm going to assume that none of you know what she kind of means the word shekinah is not found in the bible but the concept of the shekinah glory is found in the bible you see the term shekinah was actually coined by rabbis before the time of jesus and it refers to the glory that's manifested in the divine presence of god or i should say it emanates from the divine presence of god in fact it's too awesome and powerful to be seen completely by man while he's a human so it's usually muted in the wilderness it was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night when moses wanted to see god's glory god hid him in the cleft of the rock and he told him he said you can't see my face and live no man can do that no human can do that that's why in the old testament when the holy or when the high priest went into the holy of holies he had to actually had to take in incense there had to be some type of barrier between him and god or he would die so he tells moses you want to see my glory well you can't see it all but you'll get a peak gun so he hides him in the cleft of the rock and he says stay right here and i'm going to pass by and when he passes by he takes his hand and he places it over where he can't see him as he comes he's in this cleft of the rock he can only look straight out all of a sudden he sees this hand come and the hand blocks his his vision and god passes by and as he passes by he takes his hand off so he can see his backside he can see a partial of god's glory now it's not just glory it's great glory glory does not mean the presence of god everyone has glory and i won't get into that but basically means the pinnacle of perfection when god created man the glory of man is when he becomes what god created him to be we talk about glorified bodies one day we'll have glorified bodies that means your body will be everything that god created to be it will be the pinnacle of perfection yeah everyone with me but god's glory is unlike anyone else's because each thing has the son has its own glory the stars has its own glory different animals have glory it's all different based upon what god created them to be but god is not a created being his glory is unbelievable that's why they coined this term shekinah glory and when you see the phrase great glory it refers to the shekinah glory so when jesus returns he will come with great glory in other words his divine presence in the sky will be emanating the shekinah glory of god and when he first appears in the clouds you won't see him because the shekinah glory will be like lightning in the sky remember what jesus said in matthew chapter 24 verses 27 remember from verses 15 through 28 these are the events that are going to occur in the second half but as he's talking in that in verse number 27 he gets ahead of himself jesus does and he says this in verse 27 for as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west so it will be when the son of man comes in other words when jesus appears the shekinah glory will be like lightning but unlike lightning it won't disappear in other words it will illuminate the sky like a lightning bolt but it will maintain its brilliancy the light won't dissipate and as everyone's eyes becomes accustomed to the brilliancy they'll see the coming son of man what a sight so let me set the stage for you i want you to get a picture of this at the very end of the tribulation the sun is darkened the moon won't shine asteroids have fallen from the sky hitting the earth causing this polar axis shift the earth has wobbled and fallen the heavens have rolled like a scroll can you picture that and then when all seems lost even our planet a lightning boat flashes in the east and shines even into the west in other words all around the earth but it doesn't lose its brilliancy instead it maintains its perigency because it's the great glory it's the shekinah glory and as people look to the sky and their eyes become accustomed to the intense illumination then they see the son of man coming on the clouds can you picture that it will be the most climactic and most dramatic event in the history of mankind it's the return of jesus the christ the son of the living god in all of his glory so what is the sign in the sky signaling jesus return first the shekinah glory flashing across the globe and filling the sky with its brilliancy and then jesus appears coming in the clouds he is the focal point of the sheconic lord people that's the sign all of that it's the lightning it's the illumination it's the brilliancy and it's jesus in the clouds that's the sign you won't see the sign until he's ready to come and the sign is his great glory in him now what's the world's response to the sign well look at verse 30 and let's find out and then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn do you see that everyone on the earth will mourn the word mourn is translated from the greek word capto in this context it means to wail in other words they will well because they're in the presence of god the son those who refuse to take the mark of the beast will well because their deliverer has come and emotions will override them because they have endured for seven years they missed the rapture but they realized that jesus is lord so they endured they endured the famines and the earthquakes they endured the polar axis shifts they thought they couldn't endure anymore and there he is and they will well because their emotions will overcome them but those who've taken the mark of the beast will well because their end has come and they're in the divine presence of god the son they were foolish and they made foolish choices and now they know just how foolish they are because they're in the presence of god and they realize they're damned for all eternity the great white throne judgment will be a time of wailing capto when people realize they're damned so when jesus appears and looks hopeless it's not hopeless for those who've endured to the end but it's hopeless for those who've taken the mark and didn't endure you know talk about foolish people if you were to ask christians do you want jesus to return now right now most christians would say no and you want to know why because they're enjoying the pleasures of the sinfulness of this world yeah i didn't get saved till i was 20. i grew up in a christian home went to church all my life accepted jesus says my fire escape said the sinners prayer walked down the aisle was baptized but i wasn't saved because jesus wasn't lord i didn't want to make jesus lord i was afraid if i became a christian i'd miss out on everything and you know there's so many christians this way about jesus return now let me show you how foolish this is how many of you have someone in your family that needs a healing how many of you have something that's happening in your family where you need a miracle how may you need something where god just needs to show up and do something big okay when jesus returns all the healings will be there all the miracles will be there everyone will be prosperous everything will be set right no more death no more destruction now don't get me wrong you still have those who made it through the tribulation that are humans therefore they have the atomic nature and some will die during the millennium but it will be rare let's be those who need a judgment and everyone will know isaiah tells us but here's what's interesting here's how most christians feel they so want jesus to heal this person in their family but they don't want jesus to come they just want him to heal so they can continue to live in a sinful world they need this miracle so they want god to do this miracle but they don't want jesus to return because if jesus returns i can't enjoy the sinful pleasures of this world i still want to do this or that they need god to move in a mighty way here but they don't want jesus to return do you see how foolish that is people when jesus returns everything that you want that's righteous and holy and of joy is going to be there no more sickness no more disease no more deformities no more fighting over whether to take the vaccine or don't take the vaccine no but we are so foolish because we want god to step in but don't step into the world at your coming i don't know if it's my age or because of what i do i see all the horrible things i pray every day for you all i pray for those who have cancer i pray for those who their husband or their wives left them i pray for those whose children are on drugs i pray for all of these different things and you know all i want is for jesus to come back because then i don't have all those but i talk to people and they don't want jesus to come back because they like living in the sinful world they just want him to step in and fix these things i don't know what's wrong with this but let me tell you i want jesus to come back i'm tired of people dying i'm tired of sickness and disease i'm tired of addictions and evil running rampant i'm tired of all these things i'm going to be raptured if i wasn't i'd be one of those wailing when i saw jesus for how foolish i was that i didn't want jesus some of you are so foolish you've not made jesus lord of your life and you will miss the rapture trust me if you endure to the end of that seven years tribulation when jesus returns if you've accepted him if you refuse to take the mark you will well you will mourn that you weren't wise enough to accept jesus before the rapture

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

Views: 7,198

Rating: 4.821918 out of 5

Keywords: dragon revelation, satan, eschatology, end times according to jesus, allen nolan, cornerstone, revelation, bible, end times

Id: rpclI4WN98M

Length: 53min 43sec (3223 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021